Primary elections serve up surprises

Ron Sparks fought from a large deficit a year before the Tuesday primary to run away with the Democratic nomination for gover­nor, a win that led to U.S. Rep. Ar­tur Davis walking away from poli­tics after many assumed the Harvard-educated lawyer would walk away with the nomination.

Davis assembled a well-experi­enced, well-paid team of consul­tants from Alabama and beyond, who had helped to elect President Obama and other top Democrats.

Sparks, the two-term agricul­ture commissioner, was easily out­spent and was on his third cam­paign manager. But he bulked up his staff with campaign veterans as the election neared. And Sparks himself is a tough campaigner, winning 62 of 67 counties in 2006 as a Democrat while Republicans won most statewide offices.

Davis' campaign, even though it touted a 13-point lead in a recent poll and a 30-point lead a year ago, appeared very concerned late in the primary. The campaign claimed a comfortable lead, but went on the attack with its press releases and its ads.

They had reason to be con­cerned.

Sparks never trailed as the numbers began to roll in Tuesday.

After addressing supporters early in the evening, Sparks took a phone call as he talked to the me­dia on his way out of the room. And, again, he listened to positive results from Lee County and Rus­sell County.

And while some people likely would have alleged race was a fac­tor if Davis had won the primary and gone on to lose in the general election, there was almost no men­tion of racism with the over­whelming Sparks victory.

The commissioner won with overwhelming black support. And black leaders and organizations, upset with Davis over several is­sues, helped sack his effort to be­come the state's first black gover­nor.

After Davis refused to be vetted by black political organizations and after other power struggles be­tween him and Democratic lead­ers, there seemed to be some con­cern about whether they would have a seat at the table in a Davis administration.

Surprise of the night

While many people were sur­prised by the large margin of Sparks' victory, more seemed sur­prised at the man who finished Tuesday night in second place in the Republican primary for gover­nor.

State Rep. Robert Bentley of Tuscaloosa finished second out of seven Republicans even though he was easily outspent by two of his competitors.

Former two-year college sys­tem Chancellor Bradley Byrne fin­ished ahead of the pack, but Bent­ley finished just ahead of Greenville businessman Tim James even though James out­spent him and flooded the air­waves with ads.

James and Byrne engaged in bitter attacks in the last weeks of the campaign.

Many voters probably viewed Bentley, even though he did not have as large a presence on TV, as a positive alternative. In his ads, he talked about passing legislation that would give incentives to busi­nesses that hired unemployed workers and vowed not to take a salary as governor until the state reached full employment.

People liked his message. They also liked him when he attended forums and debates. I attended several and he was the one candi­date that people consistently knew little or nothing about going in, but seemed to like as they walked out.

Republicans will not know whether Bentley or James will be in the runoff against Byrne until at least Tuesday, when provisional votes are counted. They are sepa­rated by 208 votes.

Byrne and Bentley are moving forward as if they are the two can­didates in the runoff. James said he did not believe it was appropri­ate for him to campaign right now. He would obviously be at a disad­vantage if there were somehow enough provisional ballots, many of which are often not counted, in his favor to push him into second place.

Sucked the air out

The balloons never dropped for one gubernatorial hopeful on Tuesday. The campaign of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore had balloons positioned above the stage at the Embassy Suites, where his sup­porters gathered on election night to watch results.

But Moore, who finished sec­ond in the Republican primary to Gov. Bob Riley in 2006, finished fourth on Tuesday. The former chief justice, who rode to vote earlier in the day on horseback, did not have as much money to spend as other candidates.

Moore, who is best remem­bered by Alabamians and many people in the nation for refusing to remove a more than two-ton mon­ument of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building, had a smaller replica of the Ten Commandments at the election watch party.

Moore walked through the crowd talking to supporters and taking pictures while musicians performed.

No doubt

The Republicans do not have a nominee yet for the 2nd Congres­sional District, but there should not be any doubt who the National Republican Congressional Com­mittee supports in the runoff.

Montgomery City Council­woman Martha Roby finished well ahead of three other Republicans, but did not manage to claim a ma­jority of the votes.

Montgomery businessman and Marine Corps veteran Rick Barber finished second. He finished ahead of state school board member Ste­phanie Bell, who many area voters know from her school board cam­paigns.

The NRCC forwarded a memo from Roby's campaign, pointing out she finished nearly 15,000 votes and 20 percentage points ahead of Barber, and she finished ahead in 13 of the 16 counties in the district. The memo pointed to her strengths over Barber in several areas.

Roby is well positioned to win the runoff, according to the memo.

In his own memo, Barber point­ed to articles questioning why Roby could not win a majority de­spite her large fundraising and spending advantage. He said she outspent him more than 6-1. His campaign argued that everyone supported Roby early on because she was "the only game in town," but claimed that Barber has been able to win over her supporters throughout the campaign once they determined there was anoth­er option.

Roby was the candidate of choice for national Republicans who want to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Bobby Bright of Montgomery, the first Democrat in more than 40 years to win the seat.

And much like two years ago, Bright will benefit as two Republi­cans continue to fight each other and spend heavily for another six weeks to win their party's nomi­nation. I am certain the Republi­can powers would like for Barber, who is active in the tea party, to concede and allow Roby to save her resources for November.

Legislative losses

Some lawmakers lost their bids for re-election on Tuesday, includ­ing Republican state Rep. Mac Gip­son of Prattville, Democratic Rep. Yusuf Salaam of Selma, Democrat­ic Rep. James Thomas of Selma, Republican Rep. Pat Moore of Pleasant Grove, Democratic Rep. James Gordon of Saraland and Re­publican Sen. Steve French of Bir­mingham.

Also, Sen. Charles Bishop de­cided to run for a House seat be­cause of contempt for House Ma­jority Leader Ken Guin, who represents a portion of his Senate district. But Bishop lost a close race to another Republican.

In an election result that pleased many state and national Democrats, U.S. Rep. Parker Grif­fith was thumped in his bid to keep his north Alabama seat after be­coming a Republican after just a year in Congress. While some state and national Republicans warmed up to Griffith, the voters in Dis­trict 5 obviously did not. Like U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylva­nia, Griffith's party switch did not ensure his political survival.

Sebastian Kitchen can be reached at 240-0141, or by e-mail at skitchen@gannett.com. The Montgomery Advertiser'sblog about government and politics in Alabama, South Union Street, can be found by going to southuni­onstreet.blogspot.com.

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Primary elections serve up surprises

Ron Sparks fought from a large deficit a year before the Tuesday primary to run away with the Democratic nomination for gover­nor, a win that led to U.S. Rep. Ar­tur Davis walking away from poli­tics

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